System and method for implementing secure communications for internet of things (iot) devices

ABSTRACT

Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing secure communications for IoT devices. In various embodiments, a gateway or computing device might provide connectivity between or amongst two or more Internet of Things (“IoT”) capable devices, by establishing an IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine communication channel amongst the two or more IoT capable devices. For sensitive and/or private communications, the gateway or computing device might establish a secure off-the-record (“OTR”) communication session within the IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine channel, thereby providing encrypted machine-to-machine communications amongst the two or more IoT capable devices, without any content of communications that are exchanged amongst the IoT capable devices over the secure OTR communication session being recorded or logged. In some cases, the secure OTR communication session utilizes cryptographic protocols including, without limitation, one or more of AES symmetric-key algorithm, Diffie-Hellman key exchange, SHA-1 hash function, forward secrecy, deniable authentication, malleable encryption, and/or the like.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to methods, systems,apparatus, and computer software for implementing communications forInternet of Things (“IoT”) devices, and, in particular embodiments, tomethods, systems, apparatus, and computer software for implementingsecure communications for IoT devices.

BACKGROUND

Recently, Internet of Things (“IoT”) communications have become moreprevalent. As devices become more connected to each other, ease andrisks of security or privacy breaches increase. Further, with the highlylimited memory or random access memory (“RAM”) resources available insome IoT sensors, devices, and/or endpoints, secure communicationsamongst IoT capable devices become more difficult to implement.

Hence, there is a need for more robust and scalable solutions forimplementing communications for Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices, and,in particular embodiments, to methods, systems, apparatus, and computersoftware for implementing secure communications for IoT devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of particularembodiments may be realized by reference to the remaining portions ofthe specification and the drawings, in which like reference numerals areused to refer to similar components. In some instances, a sub-label isassociated with a reference numeral to denote one of multiple similarcomponents. When reference is made to a reference numeral withoutspecification to an existing sub-label, it is intended to refer to allsuch multiple similar components.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system for implementingsecure communications for Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices, inaccordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system comprising variousexamples of IoT Endpoints that can utilize the secure communications, inaccordance with various embodiments, in some cases, via a computingdevice, several examples of which are shown.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating another system forimplementing secure communications for IoT devices, in accordance withvarious embodiments.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are flow diagrams illustrating various methods forimplementing secure communications for IoT devices, in accordance withvarious embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary computer or systemhardware architecture, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system of computers,computing systems, or system hardware architecture, which can be used inaccordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS Overview

Various embodiments provide tools and techniques for implementingcommunications for Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices, and, inparticular embodiments, to methods, systems, apparatus, and computersoftware for implementing secure communications for IoT devices.

In various embodiments, a gateway or computing device might provideconnectivity between or amongst two or more IoT capable devices, byestablishing an IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machinecommunication channel amongst the two or more IoT capable devices. Forsensitive and/or private communications, the gateway or computing devicemight establish a secure off-the-record (“OTR”) communication sessionwithin the IoT protocol-based, autonomous machine-to-machine channel,thereby providing encrypted machine-to-machine communications amongstthe two or more IoT capable devices, without any content ofcommunications that are exchanged amongst the IoT capable devices overthe secure OTR communication session being recorded or logged.

In some cases, the secure OTR communication session is based at least inpart on off-the-record messaging protocol. In some instances, the secureOTR communication session alternatively or additionally utilizescryptographic protocols including, without limitation, one or more ofAES symmetric-key algorithm, Diffie-Hellman key exchange, SHA-1 hashfunction, forward secrecy, deniable authentication, malleableencryption, and/or the like. According to some embodiments, the IoTprotocol-based, machine-to-machine communication channel is establishedusing an IoT protocol, while the secure OTR communication session isestablished using an OTR communication protocol, and the OTRcommunication protocol is part of the IoT protocol.

Merely by way of example, in some cases, other communications ormessaging protocols (and/or systems) may be implemented, including, butnot limited to, one or more of MQ telemetry transport (“MQTT”; which isa publish-subscribe —based messaging protocol), extensible messaging andpresence protocol (“XMPP”; which is a communications protocol formessage-oriented middleware based on extensible markup language(“XML”)), universal plug and play (“UPnP”; which is a set of networkingprotocols that allows for seamless discover of networked devices and forestablishment of functional network services for data sharing,communications, and entertainment amongst the discovered and connecteddevices), data distribution service (“DDS”; which is anmachine-to-machines middleware (“m2m”) standard for enabling scalable,real-time, dependable, high-performance, and interoperable dataexchanges between publishers and subscribers), advanced message queuingprotocol (“AMQP”; which is an open standard application layer protocolfor message-oriented middleware), constrained application protocol(“CoAP”; which is a software protocol that allows simple electronicsdevices to communicate interactively over a network (e.g., Internet)),secure hypertext transfer protocol (“HTTPS”; which is a protocol forsecure communication over a computer network), supervisory control anddata acquisition (“SCADA”; which is a system for remote monitoring andcontrol that operates with coded signals over communication channels),and/or the like.

Similar to secure chat off-the-record (herein referred to as “chat OTR”)functions between clients using InstantBird XMPP in TOR Messenger (anopen source chat communications messaging platform, the secure OTRcommunications described herein for IoT applications ensures thatcommunications between or amongst IoT capable devices are neitherrecorded nor logged. Rather than the TOR network that is used by TorMessenger, the secure OTR communications utilize a service provider'snetwork for transport of IoT protocol-based OTR communications. In someembodiments, similar to malleable chat OTR, secure OTR communicationsamongst the IoT capable devices might utilize one or more of malleableencryption, forward secrecy, deniable authentication, and/or the like.Lightweight protocols are used to take into account the highly limitedmemory or RAM resources in some IoT sensors, devices, and/or endpoints,while offloading encryption and resource-intensive processing. Theintent is to be able to provide additional layers of security acrosstraditionally non-secure protocols, such as HTTP, non-transport layersecurity (“non-TLS”) channels, as well as across encrypted links (suchas links using AES256 or greater encryption algorithms, or the like).This allows for security best practices and regulatory compliance withstatutory, governmental, standards, or other frameworks including, butnot limited to, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act(“HIPAA”), the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (“PCI-DSS”),the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”), the Communications Assistance for LawEnforcement Act (“CALEA”), and/or the like, while allowing for newstandards to be defined that relate to data and/or communicationshardening.

The following detailed description illustrates a few exemplaryembodiments in further detail to enable one of skill in the art topractice such embodiments. The described examples are provided forillustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention.

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the described embodiments. It will be apparent to oneskilled in the art, however, that other embodiments of the presentinvention may be practiced without some of these specific details. Inother instances, certain structures and devices are shown in blockdiagram form. Several embodiments are described herein, and whilevarious features are ascribed to different embodiments, it should beappreciated that the features described with respect to one embodimentmay be incorporated with other embodiments as well. By the same token,however, no single feature or features of any described embodimentshould be considered essential to every embodiment of the invention, asother embodiments of the invention may omit such features.

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers used herein to expressquantities, dimensions, and so forth used should be understood as beingmodified in all instances by the term “about.” In this application, theuse of the singular includes the plural unless specifically statedotherwise, and use of the terms “and” and “or” means “and/or” unlessotherwise indicated. Moreover, the use of the term “including,” as wellas other forms, such as “includes” and “included,” should be considerednon-exclusive. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompassboth elements and components comprising one unit and elements andcomponents that comprise more than one unit, unless specifically statedotherwise.

The tools provided by various embodiments include, without limitation,methods, systems, and/or software products. Merely by way of example, amethod might comprise one or more procedures, any or all of which areexecuted by a computer system. Correspondingly, an embodiment mightprovide a computer system configured with instructions to perform one ormore procedures in accordance with methods provided by various otherembodiments. Similarly, a computer program might comprise a set ofinstructions that are executable by a computer system (and/or aprocessor therein) to perform such operations. In many cases, suchsoftware programs are encoded on physical, tangible, and/ornon-transitory computer readable media (such as, to name but a fewexamples, optical media, magnetic media, and/or the like).

Various embodiments described herein, while embodying (in some cases)software products, computer-performed methods, and/or computer systems,represent tangible, concrete improvements to existing technologicalareas, including, without limitation, device-to-device communicationstechnology, IoT communications technology, network security technology,network privacy protection technology, and/or the like. In otheraspects, certain embodiments, can improve the functioning of userequipment or systems themselves (e.g., telecommunications equipment,network components, etc.), for example, by protecting communicationsbetween IoT endpoint devices or IoT capable devices, thereby protectingprivacy or security of the IoT network or other network to which the IoTcapable devices are connected, and/or the like. In particular, to theextent any abstract concepts are present in the various embodiments,those concepts can be implemented as described herein by devices,software, systems, and methods that involve specific novel functionality(e.g., steps or operations), such as establishing a secureoff-the-record (“OTR”) communication session within the IoTprotocol-based, machine-to-machine communication channel amongst two ormore IoT capable devices, and/or the like, to name a few examples, thatextend beyond mere conventional computer processing operations. Thesefunctionalities can produce tangible results outside of the implementingcomputer system, including, merely by way of example, preventingrecording or logging of content of communications over a secure OTRcommunication channel amongst two or more IoT capable devices, which maybe observed or measured by customers and/or service providers.

In an aspect, a method might comprise providing, with a computingdevice, connectivity between a first device and a second device over atleast one network, by establishing an Internet-of-Things (“IoT”)protocol-based, machine-to-machine communication channel between thefirst device and the second device over the at least one network thatallows autonomous machine-to-machine communications between the firstdevice and the second device, without any user interaction or any userinput during the autonomous machine-to-machine communications. Themethod might further comprise establishing, with the computing device, asecure off-the-record (“OTR”) communication session within the IoTprotocol-based, machine-to-machine communication channel between thefirst device and the second device over the at least one network, thesecure OTR communication session providing encrypted machine-to-machinecommunications between the first device and the second device, withoutany content of communications that is exchanged between the first deviceand the second device over the secure OTR communication session beingrecorded or logged.

In some embodiments, the content of communications that is exchangedbetween the first device and the second device over the secure OTRcommunication session might comprise at least one of information aboutthe first device, information about the second device, information abouta user associated with the first device, information about a userassociated with the second device, information about dates or times ofthe communications exchanged between the first device and the seconddevice over the secure OTR communication session, or one or more of datacontent, text content, recorded voice content, image content, videocontent, sensor data content, or instruction content of thecommunications exchanged between the first device and the second deviceover the secure OTR communication session, and/or the like.

In some instances, the method might further comprise determining, withthe computing device, whether one or more data packets of the pluralityof data packets from the at least one of the first device and the seconddevice contain sensitive information. In such cases, establishing thesecure OTR communication session might be based at least in part on adetermination that one or more data packets of the plurality of datapackets from the at least one of the first device and the second devicecontain sensitive information. Alternatively, the method might furthercomprise receiving, with the computing device, an indication from atleast one of the first device and the second device that at least onedata packet of the plurality of data packets will likely containsensitive information. In such cases, establishing the secure OTRcommunication session might be based at least in part on receiving theindication that at least one data packet of the plurality of datapackets will likely contain sensitive information. In either case, thesensitive information might include at least one of information about auser associated with at least one of the first device or the seconddevice, information associated with a customer premises associated withthe user who is associated with the at least one of the first device orthe second device, information associated with communications protocolsused by one or both of the first device or the second device, orinformation about other users who are associated with the customerpremises associated with the user who is associated with the at leastone of the first device or the second device, and/or the like.

Merely by way of example, according to some embodiments, the secure OTRcommunication session might be based at least in part on off-the-recordmessaging protocol. Alternatively, or additionally, the secure OTRcommunication session might utilize one or more cryptographic protocolsor techniques selected from a group consisting of AES symmetric-keyalgorithm, Diffie-Hellman key exchange, SHA-1 hash function, forwardsecrecy, deniable authentication, and malleable encryption, and/or thelike. In some cases, the IoT protocol-based, machine-to-machinecommunication channel might be established using an IoT protocol, thesecure OTR communication session might be established using an OTRcommunication protocol, and the OTR communication protocol might be partof the IoT protocol.

The computing device, in some embodiments, might comprise a gatewaydevice including, without limitation, at least one of an optical networkterminal (“ONT”), a network interface device (“NID”), an enhanced NID(“eNID”), a residential gateway (“RG”) device, a business gateway (“BG”)device, or a virtual gateway (“vG”) device, and/or the like, and thegateway device might be located at or near a customer premisesassociated with a user who is associated with one of the first device orthe second device. Alternatively, the computing device might comprise atleast one of an optical network terminal (“ONT”), a network interfacedevice (“ND”), an enhanced NID (“eNID”), or a server computer, and/orthe like, each of which is controlled by a network service provider. Insome instances, the computing device might be one of the first device orthe second device.

According to some embodiments, the first device and the second deviceeach might comprise one of a desktop computer, a laptop computer, atablet computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a personal digitalassistant, a printer, a scanner, a data storage device, a network accesspoint (“NAP”), a television, a set-top box, an image capture device, animage projection device, a video capture device, a video projectiondevice, a watch, a clock, a gaming console, a thermostat, a kitchenappliance, a medical device, a vehicle, a speaker, an audio headset, atelephone system, a media recording device, a media playback device, alighting system, a sensing device, a door locking system, a customerpremises security control system, a window locking system, a windowcovering system, or a sprinkler system, and/or the like. The firstdevice and the second device, in some cases, might be located inproximity to each other. Alternatively, the first device and the seconddevice might be located at different geographic locations, andestablishing the secure OTR communication session might compriseestablishing, with the computing device, a secure OTR communicationsession between the first device and the second device over the at leastone network via one or more intermediary devices. In some instances, theat least one network might comprise one or more of a local area network(“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), a wireless wide area network(“WWAN”), a virtual private network (“VPN”), the Internet, or anextranet, and/or the like.

In another aspect, a computing device might comprise at least oneprocessor and a non-transitory computer readable medium communicativelycoupled to the at least one processor. The non-transitory computerreadable medium might have stored thereon computer software comprising aset of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor,causes the computing device to: provide connectivity between a firstdevice and a second device over at least one network, by establishing anInternet-of-Things (“IoT”) protocol-based, machine-to-machinecommunication channel between the first device and the second deviceover the at least one network that allows autonomous machine-to-machinecommunications between the first device and the second device, withoutany user interaction or any user input during the autonomousmachine-to-machine communications; and establish a secure off-the-record(“OTR”) communication session within the IoT protocol-based,machine-to-machine communication channel between the first device andthe second device over the at least one network, the secure OTRcommunication session providing encrypted machine-to-machinecommunications between the first device and the second device, withoutany content of communications that is exchanged between the first deviceand the second device over the secure OTR communication session beingrecorded or logged.

In some instances, the secure OTR communication session might be basedat least in part on off-the-record messaging protocol. Alternatively, oradditionally, the secure OTR communication session might utilize one ormore cryptographic protocols or techniques selected from a groupconsisting of AES symmetric-key algorithm, Diffie-Hellman key exchange,SHA-1 hash function, forward secrecy, deniable authentication, andmalleable encryption, and/or the like.

In yet another aspect, an Internet-of-Things (“IoT”) capable devicemight be provided. The IoT capable device might comprise at least oneprocessor and a non-transitory computer readable medium communicativelycoupled to the at least one processor. The non-transitory computerreadable medium might have stored thereon computer software comprising aset of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor,causes the IoT capable device to send information to a second IoTcapable device over a secure off-the-record (“OTR”) communicationsession that is established within an IoT protocol-based,machine-to-machine communication channel between the IoT capable deviceand the second IoT capable device over at least one network, the secureOTR communication session providing encrypted machine-to-machinecommunications between the IoT capable device and the second IoT capabledevice, without the information being recorded or logged.

In some embodiments, the information might comprise at least one ofinformation about the IoT capable device, information about the secondIoT capable device, information about a user associated with the IoTcapable device, information about a user associated with the second IoTcapable device, information about dates or times of the communicationsexchanged between the IoT capable device and the second IoT capabledevice over the secure OTR communication session, or one or more of datacontent, text content, recorded voice content, image content, videocontent, sensor content, or instruction content of the communicationsexchanged between the IoT capable device and the second IoT capabledevice over the secure OTR communication session, and/or the like.

Merely by way of example, the IoT capable device and the second IoTcapable device might each comprise one of a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a personaldigital assistant, a printer, a scanner, a data storage device, anetwork access point (“NAP”), a television, a set-top box, an imagecapture device, an image projection device, a video capture device, avideo projection device, a watch, a clock, a gaming console, athermostat, a kitchen appliance, a medical device, a vehicle, a speaker,an audio headset, a telephone system, a media recording device, a mediaplayback device, a lighting system, a sensing device, a door lockingsystem, a customer premises security control system, a window lockingsystem, a window covering system, or a sprinkler system, and/or thelike.

According to some embodiments, the secure OTR communication sessionmight be based at least in part on off-the-record messaging protocol.Alternatively, or additionally, the secure OTR communication sessionmight utilize one or more cryptographic protocols or techniques selectedfrom a group consisting of AES symmetric-key algorithm, Diffie-Hellmankey exchange, SHA-1 hash function, forward secrecy, deniableauthentication, and malleable encryption, and/or the like.

Various modifications and additions can be made to the embodimentsdiscussed without departing from the scope of the invention. Forexample, while the embodiments described above refer to particularfeatures, the scope of this invention also includes embodiments havingdifferent combination of features and embodiments that do not includeall of the above described features.

Specific Exemplary Embodiments

We now turn to the embodiments as illustrated by the drawings. FIGS. 1-6illustrate some of the features of the method, system, and apparatus forimplementing communications for Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices, and,in particular embodiments, to methods, systems, apparatus, and computersoftware for implementing secure communications for IoT devices, asreferred to above. The methods, systems, and apparatuses illustrated byFIGS. 1-6 refer to examples of different embodiments that includevarious components and steps, which can be considered alternatives orwhich can be used in conjunction with one another in the variousembodiments. The description of the illustrated methods, systems, andapparatuses shown in FIGS. 1-6 is provided for purposes of illustrationand should not be considered to limit the scope of the differentembodiments.

With reference to the figures, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagramillustrating a system 100 for implementing secure communications forInternet of Things (“IoT”) devices, in accordance with variousembodiments. In the non-limiting embodiment of FIG. 1 , system 100 mightcomprise a first IoT Endpoint 105 and a second IoT Endpoint 110. In someembodiments, the first IoT Endpoint 105 and the second IoT Endpoint 110might each include, but are not limited to, one of a desktop computer, alaptop computer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, apersonal digital assistant, a printer, a scanner, a data storage device,a network access point (“NAP”), a television, a set-top box, an imagecapture device, an image projection device, a video capture device, avideo projection device, a watch, a clock, a gaming console, athermostat, a kitchen appliance, a medical device, a vehicle, a speaker,an audio headset, a telephone system, a media recording device, a mediaplayback device, a lighting system, a sensing device, a door lockingsystem, a customer premises security control system, a window lockingsystem, a window covering system, or a sprinkler system, and/or thelike. FIG. 2 also describes other embodiments of IoT Endpoints. Thevarious embodiments, however, are not limited to the specific examplesas described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 , and can be implementedwith any IoT Endpoint, as appropriate or as desired.

System 100 might further comprise a computing system 115, which mightcommunicatively couple to each of the first IoT Endpoint 105 and thesecond IoT Endpoint 110 via network 120 and, in some cases, via one ormore telecommunications relay systems 125. The computing system 115,according to some embodiments, might include, without limitation, one ormore of an optical network terminal (“ONT”), a network interface device(“NID”), an enhanced NID (“eNID”), a residential gateway (“RG”) device,a business gateway (“BG”) device, a virtual gateway (“vG”) device, aserver computer, and/or other computing device, or the like. In somecases, the other computing device might itself be one of the first IoTEndpoint 105 or the second IoT Endpoint 110. In some cases, the network120 might include, but is not limited to, one or more of a local areanetwork (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), a wireless wide areanetwork (“WWAN”), a virtual private network (“VPN”), the Internet, or anextranet, and/or the like. Other networks that can be implemented asnetwork 120 are described below with reference to FIG. 6 . The one ormore telecommunications relay systems 125 might include, withoutlimitation, one or more wireless network interfaces (e.g., wirelessmodems, wireless access points, and the like), one or more towers, oneor more satellites, and/or the like.

System 100, in some aspects, might further comprise a data lake 130, ananalytics engine 135, one or more application service providers (“ASPs”)or ASP servers 145, and/or one or more user devices 155. Each of theanalytics engine 135, the one or more ASP servers 145, and the one ormore user devices 155 might communicatively couple to the data lake 130via the network 120 (in some cases, via the one or moretelecommunications relay systems 125). The analytics engine 135 might,in some instances, communicatively couple to database 140 (which mightbe local to, or remote from, the analytics engine 135). The one or moreASP servers 145 might, in some cases, individually communicativelycouple to each of databases 150 (which might be local to, or remotefrom, each of the one or more ASP servers 145) or collectivelycommunicatively couple to one or more of databases 150 (at least one ofwhich might be local to one of the one or more ASP servers 145, or allof which might be remote from each of the one or more ASP servers 145).In some embodiments, the one or more user devices 155 might include,without limitation, a desktop computer 155 a, a laptop computer 155 b,and/or one or more mobile user devices 160. The one or more mobile userdevices 160 might include, but are not limited to, a tablet computer 160a, a smart phone 160 b, a mobile phone 160 c, a portable gaming device160 d, and/or the like.

In operation, one of the first IoT Endpoint 105 and the second IoTEndpoint 110 might communicate with the other of the first IoT Endpoint105 and the second IoT Endpoint 110 over an IoT protocol-based,machine-to-machine communication channel over the network 120. The IoTprotocol-based, machine-to-machine communication channel allows forautonomous machine-to-machine communications between the first IoTEndpoint 105 and the second IoT Endpoint 110, without any userinteraction or any user input during the autonomous machine-to-machinecommunications. In some cases, the IoT protocol-based,machine-to-machine communication channel might be established by or viathe computing device 115. In some embodiments, particularly forsensitive or secure information exchange, the computing device 115 mightestablish a secure off-the-record (“OTR”) communication session withinthe IoT protocol-based, machine-to-machine communication channel betweenthe first IoT Endpoint 105 and the second IoT Endpoint 110. The secureOTR communication session provides encrypted machine-to-machinecommunications between the first IoT Endpoint 105 and the second IoTEndpoint 110, without any content of communications that is exchangedbetween the first IoT Endpoint 105 and the second IoT Endpoint 110 overthe secure OTR communication session being recorded or logged.

In some embodiments, the secure OTR communication session is based atleast in part on off-the-record messaging protocol. Alternatively, oradditionally, the secure OTR communication session utilizes one or morecryptographic protocols or techniques selected from a group consistingof AES symmetric-key algorithm, Diffie-Hellman key exchange, SHA-1 hashfunction, forward secrecy, deniable authentication, and malleableencryption, and/or the like. In some instances, the IoT protocol-based,machine-to-machine communication channel is established using an IoTprotocol, while the secure OTR communication session is establishedusing an OTR communication protocol, and the OTR communication protocolis part of the IoT protocol.

Merely by way of example, in some cases, other communications ormessaging protocols (and/or systems) may be implemented, including, butnot limited to, one or more of MQ telemetry transport (“MQTT”; which isa publish-subscribe-based messaging protocol), extensible messaging andpresence protocol (“XMPP”; which is a communications protocol formessage-oriented middleware based on extensible markup language(“XML”)), universal plug and play (“UPnP”; which is a set of networkingprotocols that allows for seamless discover of networked devices and forestablishment of functional network services for data sharing,communications, and entertainment amongst the discovered and connecteddevices), data distribution service (“DDS”; which is anmachine-to-machines middleware (“m2m”) standard for enabling scalable,real-time, dependable, high-performance, and interoperable dataexchanges between publishers and subscribers), advanced message queuingprotocol (“AMQP”; which is an open standard application layer protocolfor message-oriented middleware), constrained application protocol(“CoAP”; which is a software protocol that allows simple electronicsdevices to communicate interactively over a network (e.g., Internet)),secure hypertext transfer protocol (“HTTPS”; which is a protocol forsecure communication over a computer network), supervisory control anddata acquisition (“SCADA”; which is a system for remote monitoring andcontrol that operates with coded signals over communication channels),and/or the like.

According to some embodiments, the first IoT Endpoint 105 and the secondIoT Endpoint 110 might be located in proximity to each other (e.g., inthe same customer premises, within line of sight, within wirelesscommunications range, and/or the like). Alternatively, the first IoTEndpoint 105 and the second IoT Endpoint 110 might be located atdifferent geographic locations, and establishing the secure OTRcommunication session might comprise establishing, with the computingdevice 115, a secure OTR communication session between the first IoTEndpoint 105 and the second IoT Endpoint 110 over the network 120 viaone or more intermediary devices (e.g., via the one or moretelecommunications relay systems 125, servers, network switches, otherintermediary devices, or the like).

In some embodiments, the content of communications that is exchangedbetween the first IoT Endpoint 105 and the second IoT Endpoint 110 overthe secure OTR communication session includes, without limitation, atleast one of information about the first IoT Endpoint 105, informationabout the second IoT Endpoint 110, information about a user associatedwith the first IoT Endpoint 105, information about a user associatedwith the second IoT Endpoint 110, information about dates or times ofthe communications exchanged between the first IoT Endpoint 105 and thesecond IoT Endpoint 110 over the secure OTR communication session, orone or more of data content, text content, recorded voice content, imagecontent, video content, sensor data content, or instruction content ofthe communications exchanged between the first IoT Endpoint 105 and thesecond IoT Endpoint 110 over the secure OTR communication session,and/or the like.

The data lake 130, according to some embodiments, might storecharacteristics of the communications (but not the content of thecommunications) that are exchanged between the first IoT Endpoint 105and the second IoT Endpoint 110 over the secure OTR communicationsession. For non-OTR communications, the data lake 130 may store contentof the communications in addition to the characteristics of thecommunications, according to customary data collection patterns (whichmay be based at least in part on user preferences, service providerdefaults, and/or the like). The analytics engine 135 might analyze thecharacteristics of the communications (but not the content of thecommunications), which may be retrieved or otherwise accessed from thedata lake 130, to ensure secure transmission of data or other contentduring the secure OTR communication session. The analytics engine 135might store the characteristics of the communications and/or theresultant analysis of the characteristics of the communications indatabase 140.

The one or more ASP servers 145 might receive, retrieve, or otherwiseaccess, from data lake 130, notifications, data, updates, content,and/or the like that are associated with the characteristics of thecommunications (but not the content of the communications), as a resultof the secure communications between the first IoT Endpoint 105 and thesecond IoT Endpoint 110, particularly, those notifications, data,updates, content, and/or the like that might be determined (e.g., by thecomputing device 115, and/or the like) to be pertinent to ASPs, asfeedback or the like for improving existing apps or software for the IoTEndpoints 105 and/or 110 (or for improving communications in general, orthe like), for developing new apps or software for the IoT Endpoints 105and/or 110, for improving and/or developing user interfaces for userdevices 155 for interacting with, setting up, and/or selectingpreferences associated with each of the first IoT Endpoint 105 and/orthe second IoT Endpoint 110, and/or the like.

The one or more user devices 155, in some cases, might receive,retrieve, or otherwise access, from data lake 130, notifications, data,updates, content, and/or the like that are associated with thecharacteristics of the communications (but not the content of thecommunications), as a result of the secure communications between thefirst IoT Endpoint 105 and the second IoT Endpoint 110, particularly,those notifications, data, updates, content, and/or the like that mightbe determined (e.g., by the computing device 115, and/or the like) to bepertinent to the user(s) associated with the one or more user devices155.

Although two IoT Endpoints are shown and described with respect to FIG.1 , the various embodiments are not so limited, and any suitable numberof IoT Endpoints may be implemented, with communications between twosuch IoT Endpoints at a time (in a manner similar to that as describedabove with respect to FIG. 1 ), or amongst two or more such IoTEndpoints at a time (as described below with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3 ).

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system 200 comprisingvarious examples of IoT Endpoints that can utilize the securecommunications, in accordance with various embodiments, in some cases,via a computing device, several examples of which are shown. In thenon-limiting embodiment of FIG. 2 , system 200 might comprise two ormore IoT endpoints 205 and one or more computing devices/brokers/gatewaydevices 210 that are communicatively coupled—in some cases, via wirelesscommunications, which might include, without limitation, IoTcommunications protocol, and/or the like (as represented, for example,by the lightning bolts in FIG. 2 ).

In some embodiments, the two or more IoT endpoints 205 might eachinclude, without limitation, one of a desktop computer 205 a, a laptopcomputer 205 b, a tablet computer 205 c, a smart phone 205 d, a mobilephone 205 e, a portable gaming device 205 f, a database or data storagedevice 205 g, a network access point (“NAP”) 205 h, a television ormonitor 205 i, a set-top box (“STB”) 205 j, a gaming console 205 k, animage capture device 205 l, a video capture device 205 m, a time piece205 n (including, without limitation, a clock, a watch, or other timepiece, and the like), a thermostat or environmental control system 205o, a kitchen appliance 205 p (including, but not limited to, a microwaveoven, a refrigerator, an oven, a range, a stove, an induction cooktop, apressure cooker, a rice cooker, a bread maker, a coffee machine, akettle, a dishwasher, a food thermometer, and/or the like), a medicaldevice 205 q, a telephone system 205 r, a speaker 205 s, a mediarecording and/or playback device 205 t, a lighting system 205 u, acustomer premises security control system 205 v, and/or other IoTendpoint devices 205 w. In some cases, the other IoT endpoint devices205 w might include, without limitation, a personal digital assistant, afitness tracking device, a printer, a scanner, an image projectiondevice, a video projection device, a vehicle, an audio headset, sensingdevice (e.g., temperature sensor, light sensor, audio sensor, motionsensor, proximity sensor, carbon monoxide sensor, smoke detector, and/orthe like), a door locking system, a window locking system, a windowcovering system, a sprinkler system, and/or the like.

According to some embodiments, the one or more computingdevices/brokers/gateway devices 210 might each include, but are notlimited to, an optical network terminal (“ONT”) 210 a, a networkinterface device (“NID”) 210 b, an enhanced NID (“eNID”) 210 c, aresidential gateway (“RG”) device 210 d, a business gateway (“BG”)device 210 e, a virtual gateway (“vG”) device 210 f, a server computer210 g, and/or other computing device 210 h. In some cases, the othercomputing device 210 h might be one of the IoT Endpoints 205.

In operation, one of the IoT Endpoints 205 might communicate with one ormore others of the IoT Endpoints 205 over an IoT protocol-based,machine-to-machine communication channel (which allows for autonomousmachine-to-machine communications amongst the two or more IoT Endpoints205, without any user interaction or any user input during theautonomous machine-to-machine communications). In some cases, the IoTprotocol-based, machine-to-machine communication channel might beestablished by or via the one or more computing devices/brokers/gatewaydevices 210. In some embodiments, particularly for sensitive or secureinformation exchange, the one or more computing devices/brokers/gatewaydevices 210 might establish a secure off-the-record (“OTR”)communication session within the IoT protocol-based, machine-to-machinecommunication channel amongst the two or more IoT Endpoints 205. Thesecure OTR communication session provides encrypted machine-to-machinecommunications amongst the two or more IoT Endpoints 205, without anycontent of communications that is exchanged amongst the two or more IoTEndpoints 205 over the secure OTR communication session being recordedor logged.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating another system 300 forimplementing secure communications for IoT devices, in accordance withvarious embodiments. In FIG. 3 , system 300 might comprise a first IoTEndpoint device 305 a, a second IoT Endpoint device 305 b, through anNth IoT Endpoint device 305 n (collectively, “IoT Endpoint(s)” or “IoTEndpoint device(s)” 305). Each IoT Endpoint 305—which might correspondto one of the IoT Endpoints 105, 110, or 205 of FIGS. 1 and 2 —might,for example, include, without limitation, one of a desktop computer, alaptop computer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, apersonal digital assistant, a printer, a scanner, a data storage device,a network access point (“NAP”), a television, a set-top box, an imagecapture device, an image projection device, a video capture device, avideo projection device, a watch, a clock, a gaming console, athermostat, a kitchen appliance, a medical device, a vehicle, a speaker,an audio headset, a telephone system, a media recording device, a mediaplayback device, a lighting system, a sensing device, a door lockingsystem, a customer premises security control system, a window lockingsystem, a window covering system, or a sprinkler system, and/or thelike.

System 300 might further comprise a broker/gateway device 315 (whichmight correspond to one of computing device 115 or 210, orbroker/gateway 210 of FIGS. 1 and 2 , and/or the like), a computingdevice 320 (which might also correspond to one of computing device 115or 210, or broker/gateway 210 of FIGS. 1 and 2 , and/or the like), adata lake 330 (which might correspond to data lake 130 of FIG. 1 ,and/or the like), an analytics engine (which might correspond toanalytics engine 135 of FIG. 1 , and/or the like), one or more ASPs orASP servers 345 (which might correspond to ASP server 145 of FIG. 1 ,and/or the like), and one or more user devices 355 (which mightcorrespond to user devices 155 or mobile user devices 160 of FIG. 1 ,and/or the like).

Merely by way of example, the broker/gateway device 315 or the computingdevice 320 might, in some embodiments, comprise a gateway deviceincluding, without limitation, at least one of an optical networkterminal (“ONT”), a network interface device (“NID”), an enhanced NID(“eNID”), a residential gateway (“RG”) device, a business gateway (“BG”)device, or a virtual gateway (“vG”) device, and the gateway device islocated at or near a customer premises associated with a user associatedwith one of the first through N^(th) IoT Endpoints 305 a-305 n.Alternatively, or additionally, the broker/gateway device 315 or thecomputing device 320 might include, but is not limited to, at least oneof an ONT, a NID, an eNID, or a server computer, each of which iscontrolled by a network service provider. In yet other embodiments, thebroker/gateway device 315 or the computing device 320 might itself beone of the first through N^(th) IoT Endpoints 305 a-305 n. The one ormore user devices 355 might include, but are not limited to, desktopcomputers, laptop computers, tablet computers, smart phones, mobilephones, portable gaming devices, and/or the like.

In operation, similar to the system 100 of FIG. 1 , the broker/gatewaydevice 315 or the computing device 320 might provide connectivitybetween or amongst two or more IoT Endpoints 305 of the first throughN^(th) IoT Endpoints 305 a-305 n, by establishing an IoT protocol-based,machine-to-machine communication channel between or amongst the two ormore IoT Endpoints 305 that allows autonomous machine-to-machinecommunications amongst the two or more IoT Endpoints 305, without anyuser interaction or any user input during the autonomousmachine-to-machine communications. According to some embodiments, thebroker/gateway device 315 or the computing device 320 might establish asecure off-the-record (“OTR”) communication session within the IoTprotocol-based, machine-to-machine communication channel amongst the twoor more IoT Endpoints 305. The secure OTR communication session providesencrypted machine-to-machine communications amongst the two or more IoTEndpoints 305, without any content of communications that is exchangedamongst the two or more IoT Endpoints 305 over the secure OTRcommunication session being recorded or logged.

In some cases, the content of communications that is exchanged amongstthe two or more IoT Endpoints 305 over the secure OTR communicationsession includes, without limitation, at least one of information aboutone of the two or more IoT Endpoints 305, information about a userassociated with the one of the two or more IoT Endpoints 305,information about dates or times of the communications exchanged amongstthe two or more IoT Endpoints 305 over the secure OTR communicationsession, or one or more of data content, text content, recorded voicecontent, image content, video content, sensor data content, orinstruction content of the communications exchanged amongst the two ormore IoT Endpoints 305 over the secure OTR communication session, and/orthe like.

The data lake 330, according to some embodiments, might storecharacteristics of the communications (but not the content of thecommunications) that are exchanged amongst the two or more IoT Endpoints305 over the secure OTR communication session. The analytics engine 335might analyze the characteristics of the communications (but not thecontent of the communications), which may be retrieved or otherwiseaccessed from the data lake 330, to ensure secure transmission of dataor other content during the secure OTR communication session. The one ormore ASP servers 345 might receive, retrieve, or otherwise access, fromdata lake 330, notifications, data, updates, content, and/or the likethat are associated with the characteristics of the communications (butnot the content of the communications), as a result of the securecommunications amongst the two or more IoT Endpoints 305, particularly,those notifications, data, updates, content, and/or the like that mightbe determined (e.g., by the broker/gateway device 315 or the computingdevice 320, and/or the like) to be pertinent to ASPs, as feedback or thelike for improving existing apps or software for the IoT Endpoints 305(or for improving communications in general, or the like), fordeveloping new apps or software for the IoT Endpoints 305, for improvingand/or developing user interfaces for user devices 355 for interactingwith, setting up, and/or selecting preferences associated with each ofthe two or more IoT Endpoints 305, and/or the like.

The one or more user devices 355, in some cases, might receive,retrieve, or otherwise access, from data lake 330, notifications, data,updates, content, and/or the like that are associated with thecharacteristics of the communications (but not the content of thecommunications), as a result of the secure communications amongst thetwo or more IoT Endpoints 305, particularly, those notifications, data,updates, content, and/or the like that might be determined (e.g., by thebroker/gateway device 315 or the computing device 320, and/or the like)to be pertinent to the user(s) associated with the one or more userdevices 355.

In some embodiments, the secure OTR communication session is based atleast in part on off-the-record messaging protocol. Alternatively, oradditionally, the secure OTR communication session utilizes one or morecryptographic protocols or techniques selected from a group consistingof AES symmetric-key algorithm, Diffie-Hellman key exchange, SHA-1 hashfunction, forward secrecy, deniable authentication, and malleableencryption, and/or the like. In some instances, the IoT protocol-based,machine-to-machine communication channel is established using an IoTprotocol, while the secure OTR communication session is establishedusing an OTR communication protocol, and the OTR communication protocolis part of the IoT protocol. Merely by way of example, in some cases,other communications or messaging protocols (and/or systems) may beimplemented, including, but not limited to, one or more of MQ telemetrytransport (“MQTT”), extensible messaging and presence protocol (“XMPP”),universal plug and play (“UPnP”), data distribution service (“DDS”),advanced message queuing protocol (“AMQP”), constrained applicationprotocol (“CoAP”), secure hypertext transfer protocol (“HTTPS”),supervisory control and data acquisition (“SCADA”), and/or the like.

According to some embodiments, the two or more IoT Endpoints 305 mightbe located in proximity to each other (e.g., in the same customerpremises, within line of sight, within wireless communications range,and/or the like). Alternatively, the two or more IoT Endpoints 305 mightbe located at different geographic locations, and establishing thesecure OTR communication session might comprise establishing, with thebroker/gateway device 315 or the computing device 320, a secure OTRcommunication session amongst the two or more IoT Endpoints 305 via oneor more intermediary devices, or the like.

Merely by way of example, in some aspects, a publish/subscribe orpub/sub scheme might be implemented. Herein, “publish/subscribe” or“pub/sub” might refer to a messaging pattern in which senders ofmessages (called “publishers”) publish messages into classes—in somecases, without knowledge of which subscribers, if any, there may be—,and receivers of the messages (called “subscribers”) express interest inone or more classes of messages and only receive messages that are ofinterest—in some cases, without knowledge of which publishers, if any,there may be. As shown in the non-limiting embodiment of FIG. 3 , eachof the IoT Endpoints 305 might subscribe to the broker/gateway 315, andmight also publish to the broker/gateway 315. The messages that arereceived by the subscriber IoT Endpoints 305 and the messages that arepublished by the publisher IoT Endpoints 305 might include, withoutlimitation, the content of messages (that during the OTR communicationsession, would not themselves be recorded or logged anywhere, but thatduring a non-OTR communication session may be recorded or logged in adatabase (e.g., data lake 330)), characteristics of the communications(which are separate from the content of communications), and/or thelike.

The broker/gateway 315 might publish characteristics of thecommunications to the data lake 330. For non-OTR communications, thebroker/gateway 315 may also publish some or all of the content of thecommunications amongst two or more of the IoT Endpoints 305 and/orcommunications between one of the IoT Endpoints 305 and thebroker/gateway 315. In some embodiments, the broker/gateway publishcharacteristics of the communications (and, for non-OTR communications,may also publish some or all of the content of the communicationsamongst two or more of the IoT Endpoints 305 and/or communicationsbetween one of the IoT Endpoints 305 and the broker/gateway 315) to thecomputing device 320 (if any are implemented in system 300). Thebroker/gateway 315, in some cases, may also subscribe to the computingdevice 320 (if any are implemented in system 300). In those embodimentsin which the computing device 320 is implemented, the computing device320 might subscribe to the data lake 330, and might also publish to thedata lake 330. The data lake 330 might publish to each of the analyticsengine 335, the one or more ASP servers 345, and the one or more userdevices 355. Each communication path (i.e., a path between one IoTendpoint 305 and the broker/gateway 315, a path between thebroker/gateway 315 and the computing device 320, a path between thebroker/gateway 315 and the data lake 330, a path between the computingdevice 320 and the data lake 330, a path between the data lake 330 andeach of the analytics engine 335, each ASP server 345, or each userdevice 355) leverages OTR communications through their respective IoTprotocol.

FIGS. 4A and 4B (collectively, “FIG. 4 ”) are flow diagrams illustratingvarious methods 400 and 400′ for implementing secure communications forIoT devices, in accordance with various embodiments. While thetechniques and procedures are depicted and/or described in a certainorder for purposes of illustration, it should be appreciated thatcertain procedures may be reordered and/or omitted within the scope ofvarious embodiments. Moreover, while the method 400 or 400′ illustratedby FIG. 4 can be implemented by or with (and, in some cases, aredescribed below with respect to) the systems 100, 200, and 300 of FIGS.1, 2, and 3 , respectively (or components thereof), such methods mayalso be implemented using any suitable hardware (or software)implementation. Similarly, while each of the systems 100, 200, and 300of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 , respectively (or components thereof), can operateaccording to the method 400 or 400′ illustrated by FIG. 4 (e.g., byexecuting instructions embodied on a computer readable medium), thesystems 100, 200, and 300 of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 can each also operateaccording to other modes of operation and/or perform other suitableprocedures.

Turning to FIG. 4A, method 400, at block 405, might comprise providing,with a computing device (e.g., computing device 115, 210, or 320, orbroker/gateway 210 or 315 of FIGS. 1-3 , and/or the like), connectivitybetween a first device (e.g., one or more of IoT Endpoints 105, 110,205, and/or 305 of FIGS. 1-3 , and/or the like) and a second device(e.g., another one or more of IoT Endpoints 105, 110, 205, and/or 305 ofFIGS. 1-3 , and/or the like) over at least one network (e.g., network120 of FIG. 1 , and/or the like), by establishing an IoT protocol-based,machine-to-machine communication channel between the first device andthe second device over the at least one network that allows autonomousmachine-to-machine communications between the first device and thesecond device, without any user interaction or any user input during theautonomous machine-to-machine communications.

In some embodiments, the computing device might comprise a gatewaydevice including, without limitation, at least one of an optical networkterminal (“ONT”), a network interface device (“NID”), an enhanced NID(“eNID”), a residential gateway (“RG”) device, a business gateway (“BG”)device, or a virtual gateway (“vG”) device, and the gateway device islocated at or near a customer premises associated with a user associatedwith one of the first device or the second device. Alternatively, oradditionally, the computing device might include, but is not limited to,at least one of an ONT, a NID, an eNID, or a server computer, each ofwhich is controlled by a network service provider. In yet otherembodiments, the computing device might itself be one of the firstdevice or the second device.

Merely by way of example, according to some embodiments, the firstdevice and the second device might each include, without limitation, oneof a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a printer, ascanner, a data storage device, a network access point (“NAP”), atelevision, a set-top box, an image capture device, an image projectiondevice, a video capture device, a video projection device, a watch, aclock, a gaming console, a thermostat, a kitchen appliance, a medicaldevice, a vehicle, a speaker, an audio headset, a telephone system, amedia recording device, a media playback device, a lighting system, asensing device, a door locking system, a customer premises securitycontrol system, a window locking system, a window covering system, or asprinkler system, and/or the like. In some cases, the at least onenetwork might include, but is not limited to, one or more of a localarea network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), a wireless wide areanetwork (“WWAN”), a virtual private network (“VPN”), the Internet, or anextranet, and/or the like.

At block 410, method 400 might further comprise determining, with thecomputing device, whether one or more data packets of the plurality ofdata packets from the at least one of the first device and the seconddevice contain sensitive information. In some embodiments, the sensitiveinformation might include, without limitation, at least one ofinformation about a user associated with at least one of the firstdevice or the second device, information associated with a customerpremises associated with the user associated with the at least one ofthe first device or the second device, information associated withcommunications protocols used by one or both of the first device or thesecond device, or information about other users who are associated withthe customer premises associated with the user associated with the atleast one of the first device or the second device, and/or the like.

Based at least in part on a determination (by the computing device) thatone or more data packets of the plurality of data packets from the atleast one of the first device and the second device contain sensitiveinformation, method 400 might further comprise establishing, with thecomputing device, a secure off-the-record (“OTR”) communication sessionwithin the IoT protocol-based, machine-to-machine communication channelbetween the first device and the second device over the at least onenetwork (block 415). The secure OTR communication session providesencrypted machine-to-machine communications between the first device andthe second device, without any content of communications that isexchanged between the first device and the second device over the secureOTR communication session being recorded or logged.

Merely by way of example, in some cases, the content of communicationsthat is exchanged between the first device and the second device overthe secure OTR communication session might include, but is not limitedto, at least one of information about the first device, informationabout the second device, information about a user associated with thefirst device, information about a user associated with the seconddevice, information about dates or times of the communications exchangedbetween the first device and the second device over the secure OTRcommunication session, or one or more of data content, text content,recorded voice content, image content, video content, sensor datacontent, or instruction content of the communications exchanged betweenthe first device and the second device over the secure OTR communicationsession, and/or the like.

According to some embodiments, the secure OTR communication session isbased at least in part on off-the-record messaging protocol.Alternatively, or additionally, the secure OTR communication sessionutilizes one or more cryptographic protocols or techniques selected froma group consisting of AES symmetric-key algorithm, Diffie-Hellman keyexchange, SHA-1 hash function, forward secrecy, deniable authentication,and malleable encryption, and/or the like. In some instances, the IoTprotocol-based, machine-to-machine communication channel is establishedusing an IoT protocol, while the secure OTR communication session isestablished using an OTR communication protocol, and the OTRcommunication protocol is part of the IoT protocol. Merely by way ofexample, in some cases, other communications or messaging protocols(and/or systems) may be implemented, including, but not limited to, oneor more of MQ telemetry transport (“MQTT”), extensible messaging andpresence protocol (“XMPP”), universal plug and play (“UPnP”), datadistribution service (“DDS”), advanced message queuing protocol(“AMQP”), constrained application protocol (“CoAP”), secure hypertexttransfer protocol (“HTTPS”), supervisory control and data acquisition(“SCADA”), and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the first device and the second device might belocated in proximity to each other (e.g., located in the same customerpremises, located within line of sight, located within wirelesscommunications range, and/or the like). Alternatively, the first deviceand the second device might be located at different geographiclocations, and establishing the secure OTR communication session mightcomprise establishing, with the computing device, a secureoff-the-record (“OTR”) communication session between the first deviceand the second device over the at least one network via one or moreintermediary devices, or the like.

With reference to FIG. 4B, which is an alternative implementationcompared with method 400 of FIG. 4A, method 400′, at block 405, might bethe same or similar to block 405 of method 400, and might compriseproviding, with a computing device (e.g., computing device 115, 210, or320, or broker/gateway 210 or 315 of FIGS. 1-3 , and/or the like),connectivity between a first device (e.g., one or more of IoT Endpoints105, 110, 205, and/or 305 of FIGS. 1-3 , and/or the like) and a seconddevice (e.g., one or more of IoT Endpoints 105, 110, 205, and/or 305 ofFIGS. 1-3 , and/or the like) over at least one network (e.g., network120 of FIG. 1 , and/or the like), by establishing an IoT protocol-based,machine-to-machine communication channel between the first device andthe second device over the at least one network that allows autonomousmachine-to-machine communications between the first device and thesecond device, without any user interaction or any user input during theautonomous machine-to-machine communications.

In some embodiments, the computing device might comprise a gatewaydevice including, without limitation, at least one of an ONT, a NID, aneNID, a RG device, a BG device, or a vG device, and the gateway deviceis located at or near a customer premises associated with a userassociated with one of the first device or the second device.Alternatively, or additionally, the computing device might include, butis not limited to, at least one of an ONT, a NID, an eNID, or a servercomputer, each of which is controlled by a network service provider. Inyet other embodiments, the computing device might itself be one of thefirst device or the second device.

Merely by way of example, according to some embodiments, the firstdevice and the second device might each include, without limitation, oneof a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a printer, ascanner, a data storage device, a NAP, a television, a set-top box, animage capture device, an image projection device, a video capturedevice, a video projection device, a watch, a clock, a gaming console, athermostat, a kitchen appliance, a medical device, a vehicle, a speaker,an audio headset, a telephone system, a media recording device, a mediaplayback device, a lighting system, a sensing device, a door lockingsystem, a customer premises security control system, a window lockingsystem, a window covering system, or a sprinkler system, and/or thelike. In some cases, the at least one network might include, but is notlimited to, one or more of a LAN, a WAN, a WWAN, a VPN, the Internet, oran extranet, and/or the like.

At block 420, method 400′ might further comprise receiving, with thecomputing device, an indication from at least one of the first deviceand the second device that at least one data packet of the plurality ofdata packets will likely contain sensitive information. In someembodiments, the sensitive information might include, withoutlimitation, at least one of information about a user associated with atleast one of the first device or the second device, informationassociated with a customer premises associated with the user associatedwith the at least one of the first device or the second device,information associated with communications protocols used by one or bothof the first device or the second device, or information about otherusers who are associated with the customer premises associated with theuser associated with the at least one of the first device or the seconddevice, and/or the like.

Based at least in part on receiving the indication that at least onedata packet of the plurality of data packets will likely containsensitive information, method 400′ might further comprise establishing,with the computing device, a secure off-the-record (“OTR”) communicationsession within the IoT protocol-based, machine-to-machine communicationchannel between the first device and the second device over the at leastone network (block 425). The secure OTR communication session providesencrypted machine-to-machine communications between the first device andthe second device, without any content of communications that isexchanged between the first device and the second device over the secureOTR communication session being recorded or logged.

Merely by way of example, in some cases, the content of communicationsthat is exchanged between the first device and the second device overthe secure OTR communication session might include, but is not limitedto, at least one of information about the first device, informationabout the second device, information about a user associated with thefirst device, information about a user associated with the seconddevice, information about dates or times of the communications exchangedbetween the first device and the second device over the secure OTRcommunication session, or one or more of data content, text content,recorded voice content, image content, video content, sensor datacontent, or instruction content of the communications exchanged betweenthe first device and the second device over the secure OTR communicationsession, and/or the like.

According to some embodiments, the secure OTR communication session isbased at least in part on off-the-record messaging protocol.Alternatively, or additionally, the secure OTR communication sessionutilizes one or more cryptographic protocols or techniques selected froma group consisting of AES symmetric-key algorithm, Diffie-Hellman keyexchange, SHA-1 hash function, forward secrecy, deniable authentication,and malleable encryption, and/or the like. In some instances, the IoTprotocol-based, machine-to-machine communication channel is establishedusing an IoT protocol, while the secure OTR communication session isestablished using an OTR communication protocol, and the OTRcommunication protocol is part of the IoT protocol. Merely by way ofexample, in some cases, other communications or messaging protocols(and/or systems) may be implemented, including, but not limited to, oneor more of MQ telemetry transport (“MQTT”), extensible messaging andpresence protocol (“XMPP”), universal plug and play (“UPnP”), datadistribution service (“DDS”), advanced message queuing protocol(“AMQP”), constrained application protocol (“CoAP”), secure hypertexttransfer protocol (“HTTPS”), supervisory control and data acquisition(“SCADA”), and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the first device and the second device might belocated in proximity to each other (e.g., in the same customer premises,within line of sight, within wireless communications range, and/or thelike). Alternatively, the first device and the second device are locatedat different geographic locations, and establishing the secure OTRcommunication session might comprise establishing, with the computingdevice, a secure off-the-record (“OTR”) communication session betweenthe first device and the second device over the at least one network viaone or more intermediary devices, or the like.

Although not shown in FIG. 4 , from the perspective of one of the firstdevice or second device (i.e., IoT capable device or IoT Endpointdevice, as described in detail above with respect to FIGS. 1-4 ), theIoT capable device might send information to a second IoT capable deviceover a secure off-the-record (“OTR”) communication session that isestablished within an IoT protocol-based, machine-to-machinecommunication channel between the IoT capable device and the second IoTcapable device over at least one network, the secure OTR communicationsession providing encrypted machine-to-machine communications betweenthe IoT capable device and the second IoT capable device, without theinformation being recorded or logged. The information might be the sameor similar to that as described above. Likewise, the secure OTRcommunication session might be the same or similar to that as describedabove.

Exemplary System and Hardware Implementation

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary computer or systemhardware architecture, in accordance with various embodiments. FIG. 5provides a schematic illustration of one embodiment of a computer system500 of the service provider system hardware that can perform the methodsprovided by various other embodiments, as described herein, and/or canperform the functions of computer or hardware system (i.e., IoTEndpoints 105, 110, 205, and/or 305, computing devices 115, 210, and/or320, broker/gateway 210 and/or 315, analytics engines 135 and/or 335,application service providers (“ASPs”) or ASP servers 145 and/or 345,user devices 155 and/or 355, mobile user devices 160, etc.), asdescribed above. It should be noted that FIG. 5 is meant only to providea generalized illustration of various components, of which one or more(or none) of each may be utilized as appropriate. FIG. 5 , therefore,broadly illustrates how individual system elements may be implemented ina relatively separated or relatively more integrated manner.

The computer or hardware system 500 — which might represent anembodiment of the computer or hardware system (i.e., IoT Endpoints 105,110, 205, and/or 305, computing devices 115, 210, and/or 320,broker/gateway 210 and/or 315, analytics engines 135 and/or 335,application service providers (“ASPs”) or ASP servers 145 and/or 345,user devices 155 and/or 355, mobile user devices 160, etc.), describedabove with respect to FIGS. 1-3 —is shown comprising hardware elementsthat can be electrically coupled via a bus 505 (or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate). The hardware elements may include one ormore processors 510, including, without limitation, one or moregeneral-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processors(such as microprocessors, digital signal processing chips, graphicsacceleration processors, and/or the like); one or more input devices515, which can include, without limitation, a mouse, a keyboard,sensors, and/or the like; and one or more output devices 520, which caninclude, without limitation, a display device, a printer, indicatorlights, and/or the like.

The computer or hardware system 500 may further include (and/or be incommunication with) one or more storage devices 525, which can comprise,without limitation, local and/or network accessible storage, and/or caninclude, without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an opticalstorage device, solid-state storage device such as a random accessmemory (“RAM”) and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can beprogrammable, flash-updateable, and/or the like. Such storage devicesmay be configured to implement any appropriate data stores, including,without limitation, various file systems, database structures, and/orthe like.

The computer or hardware system 500 might also include a communicationssubsystem 530, which can include, without limitation, a modem, a networkcard (wireless or wired), an infra-red communication device, a wirelesscommunication device and/or chipset (such as a Bluetooth™ device, an802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, a WWAN device, cellularcommunication facilities, etc.), and/or the like. The communicationssubsystem 530 may permit data to be exchanged with a network (such asthe network described below, to name one example), with other computeror hardware systems, and/or with any other devices described herein. Inmany embodiments, the computer or hardware system 500 will furthercomprise a working memory 535, which can include a RAM or ROM device, asdescribed above.

The computer or hardware system 500 also may comprise software elements,shown as being currently located within the working memory 535,including an operating system 540, device drivers, executable libraries,and/or other code, such as one or more application programs 545, whichmay comprise computer programs provided by various embodiments(including, without limitation, hypervisors, VMs, and the like), and/ormay be designed to implement methods, and/or configure systems, providedby other embodiments, as described herein. Merely by way of example, oneor more procedures described with respect to the method(s) discussedabove might be implemented as code and/or instructions executable by acomputer (and/or a processor within a computer); in an aspect, then,such code and/or instructions can be used to configure and/or adapt ageneral purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or moreoperations in accordance with the described methods.

A set of these instructions and/or code might be encoded and/or storedon a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, such as thestorage device(s) 525 described above. In some cases, the storage mediummight be incorporated within a computer system, such as the system 500.In other embodiments, the storage medium might be separate from acomputer system (i.e., a removable medium, such as a compact disc,etc.), and/or provided in an installation package, such that the storagemedium can be used to program, configure, and/or adapt a general purposecomputer with the instructions/code stored thereon. These instructionsmight take the form of executable code, which is executable by thecomputer or hardware system 500 and/or might take the form of sourceand/or installable code, which, upon compilation and/or installation onthe computer or hardware system 500 (e.g., using any of a variety ofgenerally available compilers, installation programs,compression/decompression utilities, etc.) then takes the form ofexecutable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware (such as programmable logic controllers,field-programmable gate arrays, application-specific integratedcircuits, and/or the like) might also be used, and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portablesoftware, such as applets, apps, etc.), or both. Further, connection toother computing devices such as network input/output devices may beemployed.

As mentioned above, in one aspect, some embodiments may employ acomputer or hardware system (such as the computer or hardware system500) to perform methods in accordance with various embodiments of theinvention. According to a set of embodiments, some or all of theprocedures of such methods are performed by the computer or hardwaresystem 500 in response to processor 510 executing one or more sequencesof one or more instructions (which might be incorporated into theoperating system 540 and/or other code, such as an application program545) contained in the working memory 535. Such instructions may be readinto the working memory 535 from another computer readable medium, suchas one or more of the storage device(s) 525. Merely by way of example,execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the workingmemory 535 might cause the processor(s) 510 to perform one or moreprocedures of the methods described herein.

The terms “machine readable medium” and “computer readable medium,” asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. In an embodimentimplemented using the computer or hardware system 500, various computerreadable media might be involved in providing instructions/code toprocessor(s) 510 for execution and/or might be used to store and/orcarry such instructions/code (e.g., as signals). In manyimplementations, a computer readable medium is a non-transitory,physical, and/or tangible storage medium. In some embodiments, acomputer readable medium may take many forms, including, but not limitedto, non-volatile media, volatile media, or the like. Non-volatile mediaincludes, for example, optical and/or magnetic disks, such as thestorage device(s) 525. Volatile media includes, without limitation,dynamic memory, such as the working memory 535. In some alternativeembodiments, a computer readable medium may take the form oftransmission media, which includes, without limitation, coaxial cables,copper wire, and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise the bus505, as well as the various components of the communication subsystem530 (and/or the media by which the communications subsystem 530 providescommunication with other devices). In an alternative set of embodiments,transmission media can also take the form of waves (including, withoutlimitation, radio, acoustic, and/or light waves, such as those generatedduring radio-wave and infra-red data communications).

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patternsof holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chipor cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer can readinstructions and/or code.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 510for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computer or hardware system 500. Thesesignals, which might be in the form of electromagnetic signals, acousticsignals, optical signals, and/or the like, are all examples of carrierwaves on which instructions can be encoded, in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

The communications subsystem 530 (and/or components thereof) generallywill receive the signals, and the bus 505 then might carry the signals(and/or the data, instructions, etc. carried by the signals) to theworking memory 535, from which the processor(s) 505 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 535 may optionally be stored on a storage device 525 eitherbefore or after execution by the processor(s) 510.

As noted above, a set of embodiments comprises methods and systems forimplementing communications for Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices, and,in particular embodiments, to methods, systems, apparatus, and computersoftware for implementing secure communications for IoT devices. FIG. 6illustrates a schematic diagram of a system 600 that can be used inaccordance with one set of embodiments. The system 600 can include oneor more user computers, user devices, or customer devices 605. A usercomputer, user device, or customer device 605 can be a general purposepersonal computer (including, merely by way of example, desktopcomputers, tablet computers, laptop computers, handheld computers, andthe like, running any appropriate operating system, several of which areavailable from vendors such as Apple, Microsoft Corp., and the like),cloud computing devices, a server(s), and/or a workstation computer(s)running any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX™ or UNIX-likeoperating systems. A user computer, user device, or customer device 605can also have any of a variety of applications, including one or moreapplications configured to perform methods provided by variousembodiments (as described above, for example), as well as one or moreoffice applications, database client and/or server applications, and/orweb browser applications. Alternatively, a user computer, user device,or customer device 605 can be any other electronic device, such as athin-client computer, Internet-enabled mobile telephone, smart phone,and/or personal digital assistant, capable of communicating via anetwork (e.g., the network(s) 610 described below) and/or of displayingand navigating web pages or other types of electronic documents.Although the exemplary system 600 is shown with two user computers, userdevices, or customer devices 605, any number of user computers, userdevices, or customer devices can be supported.

Certain embodiments operate in a networked environment, which caninclude a network(s) 610. The network(s) 610 can be any type of networkfamiliar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-available (and/orfree or proprietary) protocols, including, without limitation, TCP/IP,SNA™, IPX™, AppleTalk™, and the like. Merely by way of example, thenetwork(s) 610 can each include a local area network (“LAN”), including,without limitation, a fiber network, an Ethernet network, a Token-Ring™network, and/or the like; a wide-area network (“WAN”); a wireless widearea network (“WWAN”); a virtual network, such as a virtual privatenetwork (“VPN”); the Internet; an intranet; an extranet; a publicswitched telephone network (“PSTN”); an infra-red network; a wirelessnetwork, including, without limitation, a network operating under any ofthe IEEE 802.11 suite of protocols, the Bluetooth™ protocol known in theart, and/or any other wireless protocol; and/or any combination of theseand/or other networks. In a particular embodiment, the network mightinclude an access network of the service provider (e.g., an Internetservice provider (“ISP”)). In another embodiment, the network mightinclude a core network of the service provider, and/or the Internet.

Embodiments can also include one or more server computers 615. Each ofthe server computers 615 may be configured with an operating system,including, without limitation, any of those discussed above, as well asany commercially (or freely) available server operating systems. Each ofthe servers 615 may also be running one or more applications, which canbe configured to provide services to one or more clients 605 and/orother servers 615.

Merely by way of example, one of the servers 615 might be a data server,a web server, a cloud computing device(s), or the like, as describedabove. The data server might include (or be in communication with) a webserver, which can be used, merely by way of example, to process requestsfor web pages or other electronic documents from user computers 605. Theweb server can also run a variety of server applications, including HTTPservers, FTP servers, CGI servers, database servers, Java servers, andthe like. In some embodiments of the invention, the web server may beconfigured to serve web pages that can be operated within a web browseron one or more of the user computers 605 to perform methods of theinvention.

The server computers 615, in some embodiments, might include one or moreapplication servers, which can be configured with one or moreapplications accessible by a client running on one or more of the clientcomputers 605 and/or other servers 615. Merely by way of example, theserver(s) 615 can be one or more general purpose computers capable ofexecuting programs or scripts in response to the user computers 605and/or other servers 615, including, without limitation, webapplications (which might, in some cases, be configured to performmethods provided by various embodiments). Merely by way of example, aweb application can be implemented as one or more scripts or programswritten in any suitable programming language, such as Java™, C, C#™ orC++, and/or any scripting language, such as Perl, Python, or TCL, aswell as combinations of any programming and/or scripting languages. Theapplication server(s) can also include database servers, including,without limitation, those commercially available from Oracle™,Microsoft™, Sybase™, IBM™, and the like, which can process requests fromclients (including, depending on the configuration, dedicated databaseclients, API clients, web browsers, etc.) running on a user computer,user device, or customer device 605 and/or another server 615. In someembodiments, an application server can perform one or more of theprocesses for implementing secure communications for IoT devices, or thelike, as described in detail above. Data provided by an applicationserver may be formatted as one or more web pages (comprising HTML,JavaScript, etc., for example) and/or may be forwarded to a usercomputer 605 via a web server (as described above, for example).Similarly, a web server might receive web page requests and/or inputdata from a user computer 605 and/or forward the web page requestsand/or input data to an application server. In some cases, a web servermay be integrated with an application server.

In accordance with further embodiments, one or more servers 615 canfunction as a file server and/or can include one or more of the files(e.g., application code, data files, etc.) necessary to implementvarious disclosed methods, incorporated by an application running on auser computer 605 and/or another server 615. Alternatively, as thoseskilled in the art will appreciate, a file server can include allnecessary files, allowing such an application to be invoked remotely bya user computer, user device, or customer device 605 and/or server 615.

It should be noted that the functions described with respect to variousservers herein (e.g., application server, database server, web server,file server, etc.) can be performed by a single server and/or aplurality of specialized servers, depending on implementation-specificneeds and parameters.

In certain embodiments, the system can include one or more databases 620a-620 n (collectively, “databases 620”). The location of each of thedatabases 620 is discretionary: merely by way of example, a database 620a might reside on a storage medium local to (and/or resident in) aserver 615 a (and/or a user computer, user device, or customer device605). Alternatively, a database 620 n can be remote from any or all ofthe computers 605, 615, so long as it can be in communication (e.g., viathe network 610) with one or more of these. In a particular set ofembodiments, a database 620 can reside in a storage-area network (“SAN”)familiar to those skilled in the art. (Likewise, any necessary files forperforming the functions attributed to the computers 605, 615 can bestored locally on the respective computer and/or remotely, asappropriate.) In one set of embodiments, the database 620 can be arelational database, such as an Oracle database, that is adapted tostore, update, and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.The database might be controlled and/or maintained by a database server,as described above, for example.

According to some embodiments, system 600 might further comprise firstthrough N^(th) Internet of Things (“IoT”) Endpoints 625 a-625 n(collectively, “IoT Endpoints 625”), which might correspond to one ormore of IoT Endpoints 105, 110, 205, and/or 305 of FIGS. 1-3 . System600 might also comprise broker/gateway 630, which might correspond toone or more of computing devices 115, 210, and/or 320 or broker/gateway210 and/or 315 of FIGS. 1-3 , and/or the like. In some cases, usercomputer, user device, or customer device 605 might correspond to userdevices 155 and/or 355 or mobile user devices 160 of FIGS. 1 and 3 ,while servers 615 might correspond to analytics engines 135 and/or 335or ASP servers 145 and/or 345 of FIGS. 1 and 3 , and databases 620 mightcorrespond to data lake 130 and/or 330 or databases 140 and 150 of FIGS.1 and 3 .

The broker/gateway 630 might provide secure communications over IoTprotocol between or amongst two or more of the IoT Endpoints 625, asdescribed in detail above with respect to FIGS. 1-4 . In someembodiments, the servers 615 (particularly, those servers correspondingto analytics engines 135 and/or 335) might analyze characteristics ofthe communications (but not the content of the communications, for OTRcommunications) to ensure secure transmission of data or other content.The user devices 605, in some instances, might receive notifications,data, updates, content, and/or the like that are associated with thecharacteristics of the communications (but not the content of thecommunications), as a result of the secure communications amongst theIoT Endpoints 625, particularly, those notifications, data, updates,content, and/or the like that might be determined (e.g., by the servers615 and/or the broker/gateway 630, and/or the like) to be pertinent tothe user(s) associated with user devices 605. The servers 615(particularly, those servers corresponding to ASP servers 145 and/or345) might receive notifications, data, updates, content, and/or thelike that are associated with the characteristics of the communications(but not the content of the communications), as a result of the securecommunications amongst the IoT Endpoints 625, particularly, thosenotifications, data, updates, content, and/or the like that might bedetermined (e.g., by the servers 615 and/or the broker/gateway 630,and/or the like) to be pertinent to ASPs, as feedback or the like forimproving existing apps or software for IoT Endpoints (or for improvingcommunications in general, or the like), for developing new apps orsoftware for IoT Endpoints, for improving and/or developing userinterfaces for user devices for interacting with, setting up, and/orselecting preferences associated with each of one or more IoT Endpoints,and/or the like.

While certain features and aspects have been described with respect toexemplary embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize thatnumerous modifications are possible. For example, the methods andprocesses described herein may be implemented using hardware components,software components, and/or any combination thereof. Further, whilevarious methods and processes described herein may be described withrespect to particular structural and/or functional components for easeof description, methods provided by various embodiments are not limitedto any particular structural and/or functional architecture but insteadcan be implemented on any suitable hardware, firmware and/or softwareconfiguration. Similarly, while certain functionality is ascribed tocertain system components, unless the context dictates otherwise, thisfunctionality can be distributed among various other system componentsin accordance with the several embodiments.

Moreover, while the procedures of the methods and processes describedherein are described in a particular order for ease of description,unless the context dictates otherwise, various procedures may bereordered, added, and/or omitted in accordance with various embodiments.Moreover, the procedures described with respect to one method or processmay be incorporated within other described methods or processes;likewise, system components described according to a particularstructural architecture and/or with respect to one system may beorganized in alternative structural architectures and/or incorporatedwithin other described systems. Hence, while various embodiments aredescribed with—or without—certain features for ease of description andto illustrate exemplary aspects of those embodiments, the variouscomponents and/or features described herein with respect to a particularembodiment can be substituted, added and/or subtracted from among otherdescribed embodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise.Consequently, although several exemplary embodiments are describedabove, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to coverall modifications and equivalents within the scope of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: providing, with a computingdevice, connectivity between a first device and a second device over atleast one network, by establishing an Internet-of-Things (“IoT”)protocol-based, machine-to-machine communication channel between thefirst device and the second device over the at least one network thatallows autonomous machine-to-machine communications between the firstdevice and the second device, without any user interaction or any userinput during the autonomous machine-to-machine communications; andestablishing, with the computing device, a secure off-the-record (“OTR”)communication session within the IoT protocol-based, machine-to-machinecommunication channel between the first device and the second deviceover the at least one network, the secure OTR communication sessionproviding encrypted machine-to-machine communications between the firstdevice and the second device, without any content of communications thatis exchanged between the first device and the second device over thesecure OTR communication session being recorded or logged, wherein thesecure OTR communication session utilizes one or more cryptographicprotocols or techniques selected from a group consisting of AESsymmetric-key algorithm, Diffie-Hellman key exchange, SHA-1 hashfunction, forward secrecy, deniable authentication, and malleableencryption, wherein the IoT protocol-based, machine-to-machinecommunication channel is established using an IoT protocol, wherein thesecure OTR communication session is established using an OTRcommunication protocol, and wherein the OTR communication protocol ispart of the IoT protocol, and wherein the first device and the seconddevice are located in proximity to each other.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the content of communications that is exchanged between thefirst device and the second device over the secure OTR communicationsession comprises at least one of information about the first device,information about the second device, information about a user associatedwith the first device, information about a user associated with thesecond device, information about dates or times of the communicationsexchanged between the first device and the second device over the secureOTR communication session, or one or more of data content, text content,recorded voice content, image content, video content, sensor datacontent, or instruction content of the communications exchanged betweenthe first device and the second device over the secure OTR communicationsession.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, withthe computing device, whether one or more data packets of the pluralityof data packets from the at least one of the first device and the seconddevice contain sensitive information, wherein establishing the secureOTR communication session is based at least in part on a determinationthat one or more data packets of the plurality of data packets from theat least one of the first device and the second device contain sensitiveinformation.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the sensitive informationincludes at least one of information about a user associated with atleast one of the first device or the second device, informationassociated with a customer premises associated with the user who isassociated with the at least one of the first device or the seconddevice, information associated with communications protocols used by oneor both of the first device or the second device, or information aboutother users who are associated with the customer premises associatedwith the user who is associated with the at least one of the firstdevice or the second device.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein thesecure OTR communication session is based at least in part onoff-the-record messaging protocol.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thecomputing device comprises a gateway device comprising at least one ofan optical network terminal (“ONT”), a network interface device (“NID”),an enhanced NID (“eNID”), a residential gateway (“RG”) device, abusiness gateway (“BG”) device, or a virtual gateway (“vG”) device,wherein the gateway device is located at or near a customer premisesassociated with a user who is associated with one of the first device orthe second device.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the computingdevice comprises at least one of an optical network terminal (“ONT”), anetwork interface device (“NID”), an enhanced NID (“eNID”), or a servercomputer, each of which is controlled by a network service provider. 8.The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is one of the firstdevice or the second device.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstdevice and the second device each comprises one of a desktop computer, alaptop computer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, apersonal digital assistant, a printer, a scanner, a data storage device,a network access point (“NAP”), a television, a set-top box, an imagecapture device, an image projection device, a video capture device, avideo projection device, a watch, a clock, a gaming console, athermostat, a kitchen appliance, a medical device, a vehicle, a speaker,an audio headset, a telephone system, a media recording device, a mediaplayback device, a lighting system, a sensing device, a door lockingsystem, a customer premises security control system, a window lockingsystem, a window covering system, or a sprinkler system.
 10. The methodof claim 1, wherein the at least one network comprises one or more of alocal area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), a wireless widearea network (“WWAN”), a virtual private network (“VPN”), the Internet,or an extranet.
 11. A computing device, comprising: at least oneprocessor; and a non-transitory computer readable medium communicativelycoupled to the at least one processor, the non-transitory computerreadable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a setof instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor,causes the computing device to: provide connectivity between a firstdevice and a second device over at least one network, by establishing anInternet-of-Things (“IoT”) protocol-based, machine-to-machinecommunication channel between the first device and the second deviceover the at least one network that allows autonomous machine-to-machinecommunications between the first device and the second device, withoutany user interaction or any user input during the autonomousmachine-to-machine communications; and establish a secure off-the-record(“OTR”) communication session within the IoT protocol-based,machine-to-machine communication channel between the first device andthe second device over the at least one network, the secure OTRcommunication session providing encrypted machine-to-machinecommunications between the first device and the second device, withoutany content of communications that is exchanged between the first deviceand the second device over the secure OTR communication session beingrecorded or logged, wherein the secure OTR communication sessionutilizes one or more cryptographic protocols or techniques selected froma group consisting of AES symmetric-key algorithm, Diffie-Hellman keyexchange, SHA-1 hash function, forward secrecy, deniable authentication,and malleable encryption, wherein the IoT protocol-based,machine-to-machine communication channel is established using an IoTprotocol, wherein the secure OTR communication session is establishedusing an OTR communication protocol, and wherein the OTR communicationprotocol is part of the IoT protocol, and wherein the first device andthe second device are located in proximity to each other.
 12. Thecomputing device of claim 11, wherein the set of instructions that, whenexecuted by the at least one processor, further causes the computingdevice to: determine whether one or more data packets of the pluralityof data packets from the at least one of the first device and the seconddevice contain sensitive information, wherein establishing the secureOTR communication session is based at least in part on a determinationthat one or more data packets of the plurality of data packets from theat least one of the first device and the second device contain sensitiveinformation.
 13. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the computingdevice comprises a gateway device comprising at least one of an opticalnetwork terminal (“ONT”), a network interface device (“NID”), anenhanced NID (“eNID”), a residential gateway (“RG”) device, a businessgateway (“BG”) device, or a virtual gateway (“vG”) device, wherein thegateway device is located at or near a customer premises associated witha user who is associated with one of the first device or the seconddevice.
 14. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the secure OTRcommunication session is based at least in part on off-the-recordmessaging protocol.
 15. An Internet-of-Things (“IoT”) capable device,comprising: at least one processor; and a non-transitory computerreadable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one processor,the non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereoncomputer software comprising a set of instructions that, when executedby the at least one processor, causes the IoT capable device to: sendinformation to a second IoT capable device over a secure off-the-record(“OTR”) communication session that is established within an IoTprotocol-based, machine-to-machine communication channel between the IoTcapable device and the second IoT capable device over at least onenetwork, the secure OTR communication session providing encryptedmachine-to-machine communications between the IoT capable device and thesecond IoT capable device, without the information being recorded orlogged, wherein the secure OTR communication session utilizes one ormore cryptographic protocols or techniques selected from a groupconsisting of AES symmetric-key algorithm, Diffie-Hellman key exchange,SHA-1 hash function, forward secrecy, deniable authentication, andmalleable encryption, wherein the IoT protocol-based, machine-to-machinecommunication channel is established using an IoT protocol, wherein thesecure OTR communication session is established using an OTRcommunication protocol, and wherein the OTR communication protocol ispart of the IoT protocol, and wherein the first device and the seconddevice are located in proximity to each other.
 16. The IoT capabledevice of claim 15, wherein the information comprises at least one ofinformation about the IoT capable device, information about the secondIoT capable device, information about a user associated with the IoTcapable device, information about a user associated with the second IoTcapable device, information about dates or times of the communicationsexchanged between the IoT capable device and the second IoT capabledevice over the secure OTR communication session, or one or more of datacontent, text content, recorded voice content, image content, videocontent, sensor content, or instruction content of the communicationsexchanged between the IoT capable device and the second IoT capabledevice over the secure OTR communication session.
 17. The IoT capabledevice of claim 15, wherein the IoT capable device and the second IoTcapable device each comprises one of a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a personaldigital assistant, a printer, a scanner, a data storage device, anetwork access point (“NAP”), a television, a set-top box, an imagecapture device, an image projection device, a video capture device, avideo projection device, a watch, a clock, a gaming console, athermostat, a kitchen appliance, a medical device, a vehicle, a speaker,an audio headset, a telephone system, a media recording device, a mediaplayback device, a lighting system, a sensing device, a door lockingsystem, a customer premises security control system, a window lockingsystem, a window covering system, or a sprinkler system.
 18. The IoTcapable device of claim 15, wherein the secure OTR communication sessionis based at least in part on off-the-record messaging protocol.